Day Seven: March 27, 2012

Culture Shock! Today was my first day in the classroom and it was everything I expected it to be and everything I could even imagine! My partnership teacher is amazing! She has a tough exterior but once you talk to her she is the biggest sweetheart! I got to observe her freshman class and this particular class is an experimental class.  They gave the incoming freshman a placement exam for math and English and the students who didnt do that well went into this particular class.  This class is the only class who gets math twice a day, but they seem to be a great groups of kids, they just need more attention than others.  Something else that is interesting about this class is that she shares it with another teacher.  One will have the class the first session and introduce a topic and then the other will spend the 45 minutes practicing what the other teacher introduced. It takes co-teaching to a whole new level.  I am with another class and they are the juniors.  That class is HUGE! I didnt get to get to know this class very well because they are so big and 45 minutes isnt that much time.

I am teaching two classes tomorrow and I am very nervous! The classroom management is so different that I feel like I am going to spend the whole time trying to get the students to quiet down and pay attention instead of teaching.  The classrooms can best be described as controlled chaos.  The teacher does their thing and the students do their thing and somehow in the end it all works out.  I am also nervous because even though this is a English speaking country there is still a lot of Spanish on the island and the students speak Spanish to each other and the teachers and I am afraid that I will not know what is going on. Even with all these concerns I am still excited to get back tomorrow.

Side note: Some differences between US schools and San Pedro High

• the students stay in one classroom all day.  The teachers are the ones that change rooms, and there is one large staff room and that is where they keep their desks and all their materials.  The students are assigned a desk and that is their desk for the whole year and they are responsible for it so if they do group work they move their desks around they wont switch in fear that something will happen to their desk. 
• When the students have detention or have in-school-suspension they clean the school.  They will sweep and mop floors! I really like how that holds the students accountable for their school.

Days Six: March 26 2012

Today was the first day in the schools.  It was a pretty uneventful day because the high school was being used as a testing site for the primary schools.  The test is used for the secondary schools to determine which students can go to that school.  On the island of San Pedro, there is only one high school so that test doesnt do that much for them, but it means a lot on the main land.  A high school can say that they will only admit students who get an 80% or better on their exam, so that pushes students on the main land to do as well as they need to in order to attend the high school they want.  Since the high schoolers are already attend their high school of choice, they didnt have class today.  Colin, Tony, Jessica and myself hung out at the school today to be there to help in anyway we could.  There wasnt too much for us to do but we still met some great teachers and students. 

After  we left school, we came back to Pedro's and had a meeting to discuss our days.  It was really interesting to talk to the primary interns to hear how their days were.  I can already tell that classroom management is the main issue in the classroom here.  That leaves me with a little anxiety about what tomorrow will bring.  Our meeting lasted about an hour and then we went to dinner.  We went to a place called Narry's, and that is probably the cheapest place to eat on the island.  I had two chicken empanadas and a tostada for one US dollar! Tasty and cheap... cant beat that! After dinner went to get ice cream and I got the coconut again :) So yummy! We met two little boys who were around the age of eight who go there to play at the arcade.  They were so cute and their favorite subject in school was MATH! Colin bought them ice cream and he has friends for life! 

I am off to bed but I am looking forward to my first real day tomorrow!

Day Five: March 25, 2012

Pretty quiet day on the island of San Pedro.  A few of us got up and went to breakfast at George's again, and it was just as yummy as before. Then we decided to go up north again which I really think is going to be a usual for this group.  The boys and I went on a bike ride to try to find some run-down resort thing, needless to say we did find it haha! Then we went back to Palapa's where we sat in some inner-tubes and relaxed.  Such a beautiful day, but not too much to report on.  We are going to Hurricanes for our official group dinner and I am excited about that. 

Day Four: March 24, 2012

Another laid back day in San Pedro, Belize.  Started the morning off with a delicious breakfast at Ms. Sara's Kitchen which has the best coffee on the island, or so I had been told.  Breakfast was a lot of fun, and we sat there and talked for about 2 hours.  It was a great time for us to share stories and get to know each other even better.  
After breakfast a few of us went out to Ramon's pier again.  That is quickly becoming a common hang out for us.  We snorkeled around the pier for a little while and then came back to Pedro's.  I learned how to play Spades and lost a couple of rounds to the boys haha, but I have gotten really good through out the day.  
We had a nice little break from the sun while playing cards and then we went on a awesome bike ride.  We rode about 40 minutes north to a resort and hung out there for a while.  They had great food and an even better view.  I could live on that pier for the view itself.  We swam out there for a while and I even saw a sting ray! It was about 3 feet across which apparently is small in sting ray world but was huge in my book haha :)  I even got to ride Walter's jet ski. Oh you dont know who Walter is, ok I will introduce him for you.  He is a permanent resident of Pedro's who does most of the handy work around the inn.  He is awesome!! The coolest thing about Walter is that he has been growing his dreads out for 21 years, so the are longer than I am tall haha.  He is so nice and will do anything in the world for you.  So when he pulled up on that jet ski and offered up a ride I knew I couldnt pass that up.  It was so fun! He was twisting and turning all over the place and he even let me drive! Dont worry mom, I was too chicken to go too fast.  
We had to leave one piece of paradise to come back to another, but we stopped and had homemade ice cream.  I had the coconut which was out of this world.  If I could pack that up and ship it home I would, it tasted like Belize.  Then we finished our bike ride and have been relaxing for the evening.  Being in the sun and riding bikes all day will really take it out of you.
So Im off to shower and to bed, love all of you! 

Day Three: March 23, 2012

I would rank today as being one of the most amazing days of my life.  I am never been so inspired and exhilarated before!!  

Yummy!!

 We started the day at George's having breakfast.  I have the "Belizean Breakfast" which included eggs with tomatoes, peppers, and onions, fresh sausage, toast, and watermelon, along with the most delicious coffee I have ever had.  We had a great conversation during breakfast about our educational beliefs and how different our experience over the next five weeks will be different than our past ten weeks.  The more we talked the more excited I got.
We left breakfast, and traveled through town and dropped off children's books to be donated to the local library.  She was very appreciative and I hope we get a chance to interact with the students who are going to benefit from the books.  After that we continued our LONG walk to San Pedro High School, the only high school on the island. Today was an "open day", meaning the school was open to the community and the students presented all sorts of projects and presentations filled with everything they have learned.  We were able to go in and out of classrooms playing the games and watching the presentations.  The students were so excited and proud of themselves, and that was so overwhelming but in the best way possible.  I feel that I needed to see students excited about their education, because you don't see that very often in the schools back home.  

Number game :)

Each room was a different subject and the math room was awesome!! We started with an activity that a young man showing us a cool number game where if you start with one number you can get back to a 3 digit number that was the number you started with and the other two is your age.  I would love to take this activity back home.  The next activity was "get the scoop on percentages" where you have to match the cone (fractions) with the ice-cream scoop (percentages).  The best part about the day is that the students explained each part of their activity to you and it really showed that the students knew their material.  I wish that I could put into words how awesome of an experience it was to be in that environment.  
After the high school, we visited one of the elementary schools. It was really cute, but the high school interns stayed back to keep the crowd down.  
Then we went to lunch which was another hole in the wall.  The food was amazing again, and I have decided that the burritos are so good because the shells are all homemade and fluffy.  If I knew how to make those I would eat it for every meal haha!
Tonight we are hanging out at Pedro's because there is going to be live music and seafood paella!
 

Day Two: March 22, 2012

Breakfast :)

I slept so well last night, and I am ready to start the day.  Jessica and I went to breakfast at Island Buzz around the corner from the inn, and I had a breakfast burrito.  It was the best thing I have had so far.  The salsa was so fresh and spicy! We sat there and drank coffee and ate our burritos while we watched the local children ride their bikes back and forth to school.  

Looking forward to this!

The big thing on our to-do list today was to get a water jug to keep in our room so we always have something to drink.  The biggest problem with that is that we had to rent the jug from a grocery store and carry it back and up to the third floor, this is a problem because it is a 5 gallon jug and those get heavy!!  Since I bought the first one Jessica offered to carry it back.  That was a struggle, but we had a great laugh over it.  

View off the pier.  The water is so clear
and beautiful. 

Once back to Pedro's we met up with the group and we decided to go to the beach.  We went to Ramon's Resort and laid out on their pier and went swimming in the beautiful blue water.  It was chillier than I expected but it was still so refreshing.  There were fish all under the pier that you could watch.  We laid out there for about 2 hours and then decided it was time to get our bikes.  Peter was nice enough to get bikes for us to ride while we are in town, and trust me after all the walking we did, I am really grateful.  We decided we were a hungry for lunch and we wanted something from a cheap food vender.  We found a place out of the touristy side of the island and got great cheap food.  I got rice, beans, and stewed chicken and watermelon juice.  Yes ladies and gentlemen watermelon juice and it was AMAZING!  It was so refreshing in this hot weather.  After lunch we explored the island a little and then came back to relax.  This is our last "free" day for a while and we have not actually relaxed in ten weeks since the beginning of our internship... Time for a break!
Tonight we experienced the most outrageous thing ever.  We went to the chicken drop.
Rule of the chicken drop:

And the winner is... 96!!

1. Make a bet on one of a 100 square grid.
2. Bring in a live chicken.
3. Spin the chicken around 3 times.
4. Wave the chicken up and down 3 times.
5. BLOW IN THE CHICKENS BUTT!
6. Set the chicken on the grid.
7. Wait for it to poop and hope it is on the number you bet on.


Yes this is a real event, and they do it nine times (to nine different chickens, one would not be enough haha).
After the chicken drop we came back to Pedro's and went to trivia night at the bar.  We didn't win, but we had a great time and met some awesome people.


Good night everyone!

Day 0ne: March 21, 2012

So beautiful!

View from local plane, the ocean is so blue!.

WOW! What a crazy day!! I have been on an domestic flight, international flight, and a local puddle jumper.  On the flight from Atlanta to Belize Jessica and I met an awesome lady flying back home to Belize from New York, and she told us all about Belize, from a local's perspective.  She told us that "if we didnt go to Wet Willies we didnt go anywhere", but I am pretty sure Wet Willies is not somewhere I need to be haha!  We talked to her for the full 3 hour flight, and that got us so pumped to get here.  We landed and got off the plane from stairs letting us feel the Belizean sun immediately.  The weather is HOT but the breeze off the ocean makes it bearable.  Once we got to the island of San Pedro, we were put on taxis and our driver was so funny.  He looked at us and said "rock and roll" and took off like a lightening bolt.  I quickly realized that the main mode of transportation is golf cart, and that everyone has the right of way... pedestrians,golf carts, cars, taxis, bikers and even the stray dogs, so you have to be really aware of the road.
We pulled up to Pedro's Inn and was greeted by Peter, the owner, and got our keys.  Jessica and I took our bags to our room and got settled in.  We were all STARVING so Dr. C took us to a local restaurant called Estel's where I had a fish burrito.  It was so good! Everything about it was fresh and authentic.  With full bellies we walked back to Pedro's and put on our bathing suits and hit the pool.  We were too exhausted to travel much further. We finally were able to sit and relax and spend some time getting to know each other. 

Pedro's Inn aka Home Sweet Home

Our stomachs started growling again so we got dressed and headed to town.  We went to a place that the Consulate suggested and had the most delicious shrimp burritos.  We also tried papusas (spelling is questionable) which I would describe as corn pancakes that were filled with all sorts of goodies, we had one with beans and cheese.  The local food is AMAZING! 

Yummy! Shrimp burrito with coconut milk

After dinner we all came back to Pedro's and took showers and passed out.  What a great start to the most amazing experience of my life.

Hey Everybody!

Packed to the TOP!

I am all backed up and ready to go! I fly out of Charlotte bright and early Wednesday morning.  Mom is coming into Wilmington tomorrow to pick me up and take me to the Queen City.  I am looking forward to spending some time with her, my brother and my future sister-in-law before I leave.  

Adam and I just finished having dinner with a bunch of friends and we said our "see ya soons!"  I hope that everyone that had dinner with us tonight will continue to have awesome student teaching experiences in New Hanover County Schools.  Thanks to Mandie I have a goody bag full school supplies to use in Belize.  I have to be honest I have the queezies and I am getting a little nervous about going, but I am SUPER excited!! I plan on blogging at least twice a week if not more.  I will be posting pictures and links when possible for yall to keep updated! 

Here is a link to a country profile for Belize for those who are curious about the country.   I will be in San Pedro for most of the time.     

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1211472.stm

I have Skype, which besides this blog will be my main mode of communication and you can find me by my email bme6474@uncw.edu.  Feel free to add me so we can chat when possible!

Adam & Brushie are sad to say good-bye!

I love all of you and I cant wait to share my awesome experience with you.